Rare skills on display in Knott's holiday village

Nov. 27, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Wielding a chainsaw, sculptor Dave Clarke coaxes the figure of a bear out of a stump of wood at Knott's Berry Farm Tuesday. The Eureka, Mont., resident uses Ponderosa pines burned in a fire 100 years ago. He'll be demonstrating through Christmas Eve. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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As chainsaw sculptor Dave Clarke works his magic, a smiling bear emerges from a ponderosa pine stump at Knott's Berry Farm Tuesday. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Using tools to shape the hot spinning glass, glass blower Charlie Keeling creates a fluted bowl Tuesday at Knott's Berry Farm, where he is demonstrating this holiday season. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

An intricate dichroic glass hand blown vase is among works on display and for sale by glassblower Charlie Keeling at Knott's Berry Farm this holiday season. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Chainsaw sculptor Dave Clarke coaxes the figure of a bear out of a stump of wood at Knott's Berry Farm Tuesday. The Eureka, Montana resident uses ponderosa pines burned in a fire 100 years ago. He'll be demonstrating through Christmas Eve. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 14

As chainsaw sculptor Dave Clarke works his magic, a smiling bear emerges from a ponderosa pine stump at Knott's Berry Farm Tuesday. JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Wielding a chainsaw, sculptor Dave Clarke coaxes the figure of a bear out of a stump of wood at Knott's Berry Farm Tuesday. The Eureka, Mont., resident uses Ponderosa pines burned in a fire 100 years ago. He'll be demonstrating through Christmas Eve.JEBB HARRIS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Christmas Crafts Village

•The Knott's Berry Farm crafts village is open every day through Dec. 24.

•From 10 a.m. through 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, visitors can enter the village without having to pay park admission; free parking is

also available for up to three hours in the lot behind TGI Friday's.

•The chain-saw sculpting demonstrations are at 12:30, 2:30 and 5:30p.m. each day; the glassblowing demonstrations are at

1, 3 and 6 p.m.

•Knott's will be closed Christmas Day. For more information about Christmas events at Knott's, call 714-220-5200 or visit knotts.com.

BUENA PARK – What is the sound of Christmas?

In one corner of Knott's Berry Farm, it's the roar of a chainsaw wielded by Dave Clarke.

Clarke performs a particular kind of tree trimming, sculpting trunks into the shape of cute bears and stately owls. He's one of the dozens of craft vendors selling their wares at Ghost Town, which again this year has been transformed into Christmas Crafts Village.

Each day, Clarke performs several demonstrations of his skill, sending chunks of wood clunking to the floor with a sawdust bath following them. Some cuts gorge deeply into the block of wood; others are gingerly touches, careful detailing strokes.

Within four minutes of carving during a demonstration Tuesday, one hunk of pine had gained two fuzzy bear ears and an upraised paw.

"I'm flying by the seat of my pants," a woodchip-flecked Clarke said of his creative process.

It was 41 years ago that Clarke, 66, created a chainsaw-tooled tiki carving as a gift for his stepfather. He hasn't stopped since, creating his business, Chips and Critters. He prefers to work with ponderosa pine, usually obtained from his home state, Montana. He's especially fond of pieces that have been burned in forest fires, creating scars and dimples in the wood, as if Mother Nature had begun the carving process that Clarke finishes.

"I carve just about any animal you can think of: fish, birds," Clarke said, and other pieces, like the enormous bench nearby, difficult to miss with the couple of 2-foot-tall cowboy boots worked into the design.

As Clarke worked, visitors gathered around, admiring his art.

"It's crazy. It has to take such precision to work with such a big instrument," said Marisa Buss of Huntington Beach.

Nearby, Charlie Keeling carefully rolled some molten glass on one end of a blowing tube, one sensibly long considering he works with several ovens that reach temperatures of 2,000 degrees or more.

Keeling has long been an artist but traded in glass blowing for pottery when he took a Cal State Fullerton glass course in 1989. Several shelves of handmade vases, bowls and even glass fish line his spot at the craft fair, CJK Blown Glass.

Like Clarke, Keeling does daily demonstrations, rolling glass in metal oxides to provide color, such as cobalt or copper for different shades of blue. He shapes heated glass, rolling it on a metal table, using steel tools or applying pressure with a scorched plank of cherry wood. Cherry, Keeling explained, has a low amount of tar that could soil the glass compared with other woods. Once the finishing touches are made, pieces can take from 12 to 36 hours to fully cool, depending on the density of the object. Because each piece is handmade, Keeling said, "My work can be similar, but never identical" to another piece.

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